Around the USA

**bnelson79** · 01-05-2020, 07:24 PM

Anybody found any good RV planning software? And has anyone actually planned an around the USA rv road trip.?

**DonnaR57** · 01-05-2020, 07:49 PM

Welcome to RTA.

Former RV'er here....

.....No to the planning software, not specific to RV's. Microsoft Trips and Streets has never worked well for me, though I understand a few have had success with it. For me, I have a good atlas, a lot of state maps, Google Maps will help me plan distances and eyeball possible overnight stops (then confirming whether I eye-balled that distance correctly), and then I set up a spreadsheet.

Planning an around the USA road trip....yes, most of us regulars here have done that more than once. Most of us travel with car and overnights in motels or airbnb's, but we have one or two that use an RV. The planning is very similar, you're just looking for places to park that RV overnight while we look for motels. (My family and I went from our home in San Diego County up to Fairbanks Alaska and back with a 5W in tow, and this was before the days of Google Maps. Planning can be done with maps and a calculator, and an RV park/campground directory such as Woodall's/Good Sam.)

What do you have in mind? How long do you have? Have you opened a good USA map and started flagging the things you'd love to see?

Donna

**travelingman** · 01-06-2020, 08:24 AM

I’m not going to be of much help here, but I vaguely remember something from an RV podcast years ago.

There was some kind of an app for truckers. You would input information about your rig; height, weight etc; then the app would route you to your destination, avoiding bridges that were too low, etc.

Maybe someone knows about this and could chime in.

**Southwest Dave** · 01-07-2020, 02:26 AM

Tell us more about your plans and we will be able to offer you some more info and ideas as to where to start. Do you own an RV or will you be renting ? How many travelling, what are your interests and how much time do you have ? If you look around this site you will find plenty of info to help get you started and with the help of a good map you can start to develop a route. We travel by RV and absolutely love it, but it certainly isn't a budget option if you are renting. If you are travelling in the summer and wish to visit National parks then it's essential you start booking campgrounds as soon as the booking window opens if you want to stay inside the parks.

**Utahtea** · 01-11-2020, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by DonnaR57

Welcome to RTA.

Former RV'er here....

.....No to the planning software, not specific to RV's. Microsoft Trips and Streets has never worked well for me, though I understand a few have had success with it.

Donna

I absolutely LOVE Microsoft Streets & Trips for planning my RV trips but it is no longer available or updated but of course that hasn't stopped me from still using my ten year old 2010 edition!!!! It wasn't RV specific and neither is Google maps but it is a good alternative for getting mileages and directions. That said, nothing beats good old fashion AAA paper maps! They are my favorite but if you can't get those then use state provide maps.

We're long time RV's and have traveled all of the US. I tend to know more about the western states. As other have suggested, help us help you by giving us more info.

Utahtea